“We’re used to selling $6 tickets to a pancake breakfast,” she said of the club. “This was a whole new league.”
After months of fundraising and community donations, the service club has raised about $170,000 and finds itself about $20,000 short, said Nye, co-chair of the playground project with the late Guy Stone, who died in May after being a Kiwanis member for 50 years.
Nye said by the community volunteers building the playground, the club will save $30,000 on labor. The playground was set to be installed July 16-18, but some materials were delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Community Build has been rescheduled for Sept. 11-12.
The playground from Landscape Structures is Americans with Disabilities Act approved so that will give all children an opportunity to use the equipment, she said.
Nye continues applying for grants and seeking the support of Middletown businesses, especially those located near Amanda Elementary where all the students are on the free and reduced lunch program.
She hopes to secure a freight company to transport the playground, landscape timbers and cement, three “large ticket” items that would save $11,000-$12,000, she said.
She often thinks about what Stone said about the project despite its steep cost.
“We can do that,” he told Nye. “Let’s go for it.”
She said Stone’s enthusiasm and shining light are “moving us along.”
For more information, email kiwanismiddletownoh@gmail.com.
AMANDA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PLAYGROUND
THOSE WHO HAVE DONATED, PROVIDED GRANTS: Fondersmith Foundation through the Youth Council of the Middletown Community Foundation, Miriam Knoll Foundation, City of Middletown, Cleveland Cliffs, Arbor Care, Atrium Medical Center Foundation, Magnode Corp., Middletown Energy Center, Ken Cohen/Cohen Recycling, Pilot Chemical, Berns Nursery, Miller Insurance, Pac Worldwide, Phillips Tube Group, Dr. Garland, State Farm Insurance, Flowers by Roger, Masons, American Legion, William Pollard Lodge and Phi Beta Psi Sorority.
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